Celebrating Black History Month ~ Mother Hale

Greetings to all! February is Black History Month, and one of the people I would like to tell you about, and honor, is Mother Hale. You might not have ever even heard of her. As many of you know, I am from Brooklyn, NY -- and I heard of Mother Hale when I was younger, when I lived in B'kyn... May I tell you about Mother Hale?

Her name was Clara McBride Hale. I first heard about her, oh, goodness... maybe in the 1980's... when I was in my 20's? Mother Hale lived in Harlem (she was originally from North Carolina and grew up in Philadelphia, PA). She moved to NYC after she married, and she and her husband had two children of their own. I remember that I either read about her, or maybe saw a local show about her all of those years ago; all I know is that from that time on, she made a big impression on me. Why? Well, what she would do is take in children who needed to be cared for. Her husband died in 1938, so she began caring for children in her home... I'm not sure if she was compensated or not in the beginning, when she first started; but I DO know that in her later years, she would take children in for FREE when mothers would drop them off at her door, be it from poverty, drugs, whatever. I remember they said that Mother Hale never refused taking in a child. She would care for these kids, feed them, clothe them, raise them, educate them, all with help from her own money and from donations. How wonderful is that?

Anyway, I hope that you will enjoy my honoring Mother Hale during Black History Month. I also hope you enjoy the photos below that I gathered from the internet.

I would normally have asked if you could contribute to the Mother Hale House for the babies and children but, alas, there was scandal on the part of her daughter in 2001 (long after Mother Hale passed away). It was written that her daughter misappropriated funds from the foundation, so the Hale House for live-in children is no longer -- but they DO still have day-care and community services. And if you are wondering: Yes, I have donated $ myself. I would never ask anyone to do something that I, myself, have not done. :)

Anyway, here are the photos.... I will give the link to the website, to read more, at the end of the post...

As you can see, she was honored by the White House (there she is with Nancy Reagan). Please visit the website to read about how, in 1985, President Reagan honored Mrs. Hale!

HONORING ~

Clara McBride Hale: April 1, 1905 - December 18, 1992

Here's the website -- Please visit to read more or donate to the day-care/community services if you would like to... Even if you don't feel moved to donate, please click on to just to read more about Mother Hale and honor her this month! Thank you!

Click HERE.

Best,

Gloria

Note: Photos courtesy of Google Images.

Important Info for those who use Cell Phone Cameras...

Greetings, all. I have been feeling 'under the weather' with my winter allergies, hence I have not posted in over a week.

However, one of my good friends, Iris, just emailed me with info that I think you might find interesting, so I thought it was important to share.

It seems that if you post a picture online, taken with cell phone cameras (GPS-enabled cell phones and Smart phones), someone could right-click on your photo and get an exact reading of where you are located -- i.e., your home address... It's called "Geo-Tags."

The news video really is enlightening... And scary....

You might want to consider just using your digital cameras from now on to post photos.

Watch this NY ABC news story HERE.

Best,

A Cold Sunday...

Happy Sunday! It is so very cold here in my neck of the woods. We had more snow this week, plus rain over that, which turned the shovelled snow on our paths to ICE beneath our feet. Not fun. I haven't done a post all week, I have been feeling 'under the weather' with my winter allergies.

But, at the beginning of the week, I did manage to do a little online shopping. :)

I ordered these two silverplated mint julep cups that were on sale.

I also ordered two little metal birds online. This photo is so small, it's barely worth posting! I think I might paint them a nice bright color when I get them... Any suggestions on what color to paint them?

Well, I hope everyone is having a nice Sunday! Thanks for visiting and have a good week ahead.

Best,

Gloria

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, we honor Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1963, Dr. King delivered his famous "I have a dream..." speech.

Here is a short excerpt below, in addition to some photos to honor Dr. King on his day.

A short passage from Dr. King's most famous speech:

Dr. King and his lovely family:

Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy:

A great man, a great speaker:

Dr. King seemed to be a very serious man, handling very serious issues. It was, therefore, touching and special to find this photo of him laughing.

In remembrance:

Best,

Gloria

Please note: Photos courtesy of Google.

Yes! We DID have snow! Man, what snow!!

We had A LOT of snow. I hope you like the pictures I took. The photos, in turquoise, were taken this morning at 7:00 AM. Aren't they beautiful? I couldn't believe it when I looked outside, I had never seen the sky that color before... The other photos were taken in the late afternoon -- from out of my window... and from out of my storm door. Hey, I wasn't going out there. ;)

I hope you enjoy our snowstorm photos from Connecticut.

These were taken late last night, after it 'started' snowing...

Now HERE are the lovely photos from this morning...

OK, now here are photos from late this afternoon....

See below: I couldn't even open my storm door!!!!

--And please excuse my "dirty" storm door. Hey, I live in the country! There's a lot of DIRT here! No, it's NOT that I am a lazy cleaning person. ;)

I took this because of the huge icicle, see?

You might have seen this "bike" in other pics/on other posts. I can't even tell you how long that has been there, I am too ashamed to say...

This was from a news report on the storm/snow this afternoon...

And our forecast for the next few days...

OK, I think I am finally done! I hope you haven't been bored and you've enjoyed the photos.

I will try to get some photos of my house, from the bottom of the hill -- my son is going out to shovel a path now. Yes, at this late hour! That's how we are around here... very unconventional. Don't know if that's good or bad... Guess it's all how you look at it. Some might say we are ridiculous -- I'd rather say we are FUN. (Sounds better.)

Best,

Gloria